A serious upgrade in US Air’s business class

It isn’t all that hard to make a huge leap in quality when you’re towards the bottom to begin with. Still, the move that US Airways announced this week is pretty significant. The new seat will be fully flat for sleeping and pretty spacious. They’re actually removing two seats per row in their business class cabin – going from six to four – to get these new seats in. But with the seats at an angle rather than facing straight forward they can actually get the same number of seats in the cabin with fewer per row. Crazy.

It has most the “normal” features that a new business class seat would have these days, like in-seat power and what appears to be a decent entertainment system with a 12” screen.

The only thing I can’t figure out is what they are thinking calling it a “suite.” It doesn’t have a door. It isn’t particularly private (though they do point out the little divider). There isn’t space for a travel companion to sit with you and dine. It is most definitely not a suite. But it is a decent business class seat.

Look for the new seat starting in December on the A330 routes that USAir flies or check out more on the new “suite” here.